A shouting, gesticulating, seething mass of men and women surged around the judges’ stand.
“Give us justice!” they demanded. The cazique pounded the gong madly. Finally, he could make himself heard above the din and noise.
“Hear thy priestess!” he called. “She begs that thou wilt remember thy duty and the occasion. There are many reasons why we feel grateful to the Azes. Judgment is suspended. All bets are invalid. Go back to thy seats and be quiet. The Monbas won their game with honor. Be content with that.”
It was well for Setos and Alcamayn that Yermah was preparing for an archery contest with Ben Hu Barabe and Hanabusa and was therefore ignorant of the cause of the offense. The officers of the balsas, the warriors, and the other players among the Azes, instinctively huddled together, humiliated and ashamed, but silent.
A plaited disk of straw having a central circle of yellow nine inches in diameter, surrounded by rings of red, blue, black and white, was hung up on the center pole.
The Monbas served Yermah and Hanabusa with arrows, while the Azes performed a similar office for Ben Hu Barabe.
During the years spent in the Atlantian colonies, the Dorado had been the actual head of the fighting men; but this was the first time he had been called upon to show his skill in bow-craft to the Azes.
The fame of Ben Hu Barabe was spread far and wide, and the Monbas waited with smiling concern as to the outcome. Hanabusa had won his position with the bowstring, but Yermah’s capabilities were unknown.
The stubborn pride of three races was in the struggle, and bitter defeat awaited some one. It was strictly a war function. There were precision, rigid enforcement of rules, and exactness in the attitude in which the warriors stood—motionless and impassive, while the three contestants marched in step to warlike music through the entrance and halted at the first vantage-ground.
The three men bowed and smiled in recognition of the plaudits showered upon them right and left, as they watched for the signal. A refreshing breeze fanned their faces and set all the flags in motion.